


Royals

by Femalefonzie



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Royalty, Arranged Marriage, Bodyguard, F/F, F/M, Het and Slash, Historical, M/M, Master/Servant, Multi, War, Yaoi, Yuri
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-01-02
Updated: 2014-11-23
Packaged: 2018-01-07 03:05:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 10
Words: 17,685
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1114733
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Femalefonzie/pseuds/Femalefonzie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For Centuries The Military Police have protected the royal families of the world. No one can remember where and when the group was founded, they can only remember that they're needed. Jean Kirstein, a newly trained officer, is sent to an island off the coast of Egypt to guard the young prince of the royal family, a shy boy named Marco Bott. It isn't long before he starts to develop feelings for the prince but with war with other kingdoms on the horizon, their friends on opposing sides and arranged marriages getting in the way, will this fairy tale have a happy ending?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> I own nothing except the original characters created for the story. I feel safe to assume you all know which characters are original and which are cannon ones. I'm trying to keep this as historically accurate as possible but if something is out of place, I'm sorry. At the end of each chapter, I'll do a little write up of all the fictional kingdoms and the royal families who live there and such. This one won't have bonus info though, due to time problems. I have school in a couple hours and can't get a little extra piece of writing done in time! Oh well, Enjoy!

Prologue

The first time Jean Kirstein ever saw a royal was when he was no less than four years old. In the time he lived though, this would have been quite rare due to the world's political system being only composed of monarchies. However, in the kingdom where Jean was born and raised, his family lived far from the palace and the queen who ruled them was too old to make the journies to the farther parts of the land. Jean's parents had never taken him into town due to a numerous amound of sicknesses spreading around the capital of kingdom and their constant worry that their only son would grow ill and die. Due to this unreasonable fear, Jean had to spend the majority of his childhood either at his father's side or at his mother's. He had been homeschooled by his parents, taught how to sew and cook by his mother and taught how to set traps and hunt by his father. He had not been taught how to make friends or get along with others. 

When he was five years old, Jean's mother had fallen sick, just days before his father was to set off on a journey to a nearby island kingdom to deliver some of his wares to a couple of trade partners. Worried that she had been infected with one of the horrible sicknesses spreading threw the land, the distressed woman insisted that her husband take their son with him. Wanting to keep his only child safe, Jean's father eagerly agreed and convinced the others traveling with him to sell their items to allow the small child aboard the ship. That had also been the first time young Jean had been off the small lot of land his family lived on and he had been bouncing in excitement at the idea. It took all of Mr. Kirstein's power to keep his son from bouncing right off the side of the boat. 

It had taken the group of traders a week to arrive at the island. During this time aboard, Jean had calmed down considerbly and was even growing bored of these new surroundings. Now he wanted to leap off the boat just for some excitement which lead to his father forbidding him from going above deck unless acompanied by an adult. The other traders just laughed at the silly behavior the child showed and teased him. Naturally, this did nothing to curb his boredom. 

At noon on a hot summer day, the crew arrived at one of the island's ports and began the process of unloading their cargo and taking it to the markets. For once in his young life, Jean didn't complain because moving the meat and fur his father had brought to sell and trade gave him something to do. It was realtively easy actually. His father set up a stand and would bring the meat and fur over to him to set up and arrange in order to catch customer's eyes. With an amused smile, Jean set to work and arranged the furs by color and the meat by animals. When his father finished taking the items for sale down to the market from the ship, he relaxed and began to try and sell his wares to whomeever walked by. Jean, who now had nothing left to do, slumped down behind the stand and watched the clouds go by in the sky.

Business had been good for the first couple of hours, with a resonable amount of people making purchases and doing decent trades. During this time, young little Jean had watched the clouds, played under the stand, took a nap, and had drawn a couple of pictures in the dirt. Being a five year old boy with no friends and nothing to do was so incredibly boring! 

Suddenly, the market grew quiet and not even the sounds of the merchants screaming out for people to come and see what they were selling could be heard. Although he was young, Jean knew that this wasn't something natural. Curious, he poked his head out from under the stand just in time to see a group of musclar people all dressed in orangish brown jackets, white shirts and olive green pants(Or in the women's cases, skirts) come striding by. With blades and swords resting in hollisters on their waists and thighs and their heads held high, each looked like some devine god on a mission. It was the most beautiful thing Jean had ever seen.

_And then along came them._

Six men dressed in light tan clothes came along behind the group, carrying a platform with two make-shift thrones on it. A man and a woman, both dressed in bright clothing made only what could be assumed as the finest silks and cottons this side of the world, as well as ten pounds of jewelry, sat on the two thrones. Their faces were stoic and unemotional, the picture of sophisticated. Which made the little boy sitting on the edge of the platform, playing with a teddybear, look quite out of place. 

For whatever reason the boy became etched into Jean's memory. His skin was freckled, his eyes were bright and a light shade of brown, almost the same color as the jackets of the warriors who came before him. His hair was dark and hung down in his large eyes, shaggy and messy despite what looked like many attempts to comb it into place.A few strands that curled slightly at the end had been tucked back behind his ears, making them seem quite large. If his hair had been better looked after, Jean was willing to bet that the boy's ears would have looked normal sized. Other than his large ears, clearly unreasonable hair and his hord of freckles, the other boy had average features. An average sized nose, good cheek-bones, the normal complexion for natives to the island. Unlike the other children Jean had seen playing when he was hanging around the market, this one wore the same high-qualty clothes that the man and woman on the thrones did. Fancy silks and cottons, in bright colors with pretty patterns on the sleeves and pantlegs, silver chains and braclets around his neck and arms, pierced ears where little jewels had been placed. Unlike the two adults sitting behind him, this boy didn't look sophisticated, he looked like a child who'd gotten into mommy's makeup and jewlery and had decided to play dress up.

"Papa?" Little Jean asked, reaching to tug on his father's long coat. "Who are those people? And how come everyone's quiet now that they're here. They ain't even stopping to buy anything!"

"That my boy," His father replied, picking his son up and putting him on his shoulders so he could see better, not objecting when the small child grabbed his light, tawny hair and tugged. "Is the royal family. The king, the queen and the young prince. Whenever the royal family comes by, everyone is quiet out of respect for them."

"How come?" Jean asked, raising one eyebrow and watching the family with a newly sparked interest. Especially the young prince. He only looked about a year older than Jean and yet the two came from completely different worlds! "What are their names? Where do they live? Why do those guys carry them around like that? Can't they walk? Is it a royal thing for them to not know how to walk anywhere? Who were those people with the cool weapons who walked ahead of them-" He had a million questions he wanted to ask about them. He wanted to know everything he possibily could about the royals and the people who walked before them!

His father chuckled, "Easy buddy, you're going to fry your brain!" His son was so curious lately, so full of questions and wonder at the world. It was cute really! "The royals can walk but it is tradition here for their servants to carry them around outside. If their feet touch the ground, it means their servants have failed." A silly little tradition but it was one everyone believed in around these parts so he didn't call it out. That would be rude of trader. "The guys walking in front of them are officers of The Military Police, they train and then once they've graduated, they serve the royal families of the world as priviate bodyguards. Why, those brave men and women are willing to lay down their lives to protect the royals!" Although it was never said by anyone from anyone in any location around the world, the majority of the people believed The Military Police Officers to be mentally ill. There were so many threats towards royalty, wherever they lived, and the training just to be able to protect them was so intense...yes the Military Police Officers were brave but they also had to be incredibly stupid. "Jean, the royal family here is small compaired to the families elsewhere like in Carthage. It is compose solely of three members: King Gilbert, Queen Rosa and young Prince Marco."

"Marco." Jean repeated, studying the prince who continued to play with his little teddybear, not a care in the world. He should have been envious. After all, this boy would never have to look for a job or worry about food, his future was handed to him on a silver platter, almost branded into his skin. He never had to learn about life the hard way like Jean and all the children who he'd seen running around in the market that day. But he wasn't. Jean didn't know why but for some reason he couldn't feel any negative feelings towards the prince growing in his stomach of his chest. "So, when his parents die, he's going to be the king around here?"

"That is correct." His father confirmed with a nod, "Unless someone tries to get rid of him but The Military Police Officers will be keeping an eye out, making sure that doesn't happen any time soon."

"I see." Jean said softly, a thousand and one ideas floating around in his mind as he processed this new information. He cracked a smile, watching eagerly as the royals and the rest of the Military Police Officers walked by. They looked so beautiful together, the royals and their guards, it was like something one would see in a picture! He wanted to make sure that he remembered this scene for the rest of his natural born life, it was so beautiful!

Much to the surprise of his father, for the rest of the week the two were over on the island selling their wares, Jean never complained once! He was quiet, he was helpful, he even branched out and sold some of the wares for his dad! Seeing him selling furs to a young couple...well...it had never made his father so proud! He had always hoped that his only son would follow in his footsteps and become a hunter and a trader! Perhaps bringing him to the island was what he needed to do to make it all click together in his young son's mind! Mr. Kirstein couldn't wait to return home and share the good news with his wife!

What he didn't notice was that whenever the Military Police came around, whether or not the royal family was with them, his son would perk up, grin and watch them with the happiest expression he'd have in a long time. He looked at the officers with admiration and nothing but respect. In the young boy's eyes, the were nothing short but heroes of the highest caliber. If had listened more carefully to the whispers the townspeople made behind the officer's backs, maybe his opinion might have been slightly altered, but he was too busy watching them in nothing but awe. 

When Jean and his father returned home from that trip, all out of both fur and meat with a large amount of coins in Mr. Kirstein's pocket, the first thing young Jean did was run inside the house to greet his mother. She had been sitting by the fire, sewing her son some new mittens for the upcoming winter, and sipping some hot tea. The sickness she had caught had only been the common cold, much to her relief. Upon seeing her son, she grinned and held her arms out for him, laughing happily when he leaped into her arms and hugged her. 

"Did you have fun on the trip?" She asked, wrapping her arms around the boy and hugging him tightly. "What do you think about your papa's job? Interesting right? Do you think you might have a future in trading just like him?"

Jean shook his head, grinning eagerly. "No mama! I want to join The Military Police and serve a royal family! I want to lay down my life in service of the king and the queen and the princes and the princesses!"

His mother was so shocked she dropped her teacup, which shattered into a million tiny little pieces the second it hit the floor. 


	2. 15 years later

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I own nothing except the original characters created for the story. I feel safe to assume you all know which characters are original and which are cannon ones. I'm trying to keep this as historically accurate as possible but if something is out of place, I'm sorry. At the end of each chapter, I'll do a little write up of all the fictional kingdoms and the royal families who live there and such. Like the chapter before, this one doesn't have a write up due to time. Sorry 'bout that. Although, you'll meet all of them soon enough! Oh! And A quick warning for the die-hard JeanMarco shippers, Jean's going to be really hung up on her in this chapter. Does this mean there'll be no JeanMarco? Excuse my language but FUCK NO! Jeanmarco is my otp and even if Horseface has a crush on someone else in this chapter, he'll get with who we want him to get with soon enough! Just be patient! Enjoy!

Chapter One: 15 Years Later

Despite their son's constant pleas and arguements for his parents to let him join the Military Police when he grew older, the two of them hoped and prayed to god that it was just a phase their young son was going threw. Every child wanted to be a hero right? Every child had that one part of their life when they wanted to do nothing but save lives and be the man or woman that the little children told stories about and worshipped right? To their evergrowing horror though, they were wrong.

Jean grew up strong, excersizing himself by running around the family lot, climbing trees and leaping from one to another and even pulling the ploughs for the neighbouring farms! Whilest he did this, his mother would watch in alarm and concern from the window of their house, with tears forming in her light brown eyes, the same eyes her only child had inheirited. If he joined the Military Police, there was no question in her mind that he son would die trying to portect a spoiled young royal! Why couldn't he have just took an interest in trade like his father?! Or in becoming a tailor like his uncle?! Hell, his parents would have been just fine if he wanted to join the Garrison of their local kingdom and keep the place safe! Why, oh god why, did it have to be the Military Police!?

As the years went by, Jean's interest only grew. Often he would sneak out of his room at night and venture into the town, looking for a sight of the queen passing by with some officers and guards, as they bought supplies and food from the market or just interacted with the citizens in her land. He would offer his services to the people of the kingdom, doing whatever he could to help his neighbours out. If he did this, then if he ever needed help to convince the elite officers to let him join their ranks, he'd have people to recommend him as a good worker and an all around great guy! He may have been young but Jean wasn't stupid! He knew that by spending his childhood fighting for the opportunity for the career path he wanted, he had a better chance of getting what he wanted in life!

He thought that his parents didn't know about his little adventures off the lot and into the busier parts of kingdom, where all of the sicknesses and violence occured, but what he didn't know was that every night after he fell asleep, his mother and father would go into his room to look at the sleeping form of their child and whisper goodnight. One night when they attempted to do such, their son wasn't there and it didn't take a genius to figure out what the boy was up to. Even though the two of them knew that their son wouldn't be there, they still kept the tradition going every night. Neither knew why though, after all it was only bringing them heart ache.

The youngest you could be to sign up for military training was 13. No one under that age allowed due to them being still too youthful. Training took two years total but only one if you wanted to join the Garrison and protect the civilians instead of the royal families. Most trainees that went threw took that route because there was respect from folks that way. Garrison members protected the innocent, not just the blue bloods, so of course they had a better reputation. That didn't change Jean's opinion on where he wanted to work though. He'd join The Military Police no matter what anyone said to him! His mind had been made up from the minute he'd seen the officers going with the royal family that day. That moment had been perminately sketched into his memories. The day after he turned thirteen, Jean went down to the docks and shipped off to the training camp with the other kids from the kingdom, eager to finally be getting somewhere with his dreams.

He had to hand it to his parents though, they were quite loving even when he was chattering their hopes and dreams for him. The two showed up to see him off, wishing him good look and to be careful. The night before they had sat down at the kitchen table and packed their boy up a nice little care package full of sweets his mother had baked, meat his father had gotten, some mittens his mom had sewn, a hat and scarf to go with them and a fur blanket his father had made for him. With a sad smile, Jean thanked the two of them and then said goodbye. He was going to miss his parents and the little house and lot he'd grown up on but it was worth it. 

* * *

 

The next two years went by quicker than Jean would have thought. He had put his head to work during the day training and at night, he let his hair down and talked to the others in his group. Some of them were pretty cool like the boy Connie Springer from kingdom on the border of Rome and Franz from Scandanavia and Hannah from Germania but others really got under his skin. Namely, one Eren Yeager who seemed to think the world revolved around him protecting the royal families of the world and taking care of every threat to the thrones one by one. All Yeager ever seemed to do was train and talk about everything he'd do once he graduated. And if that wasn't bad enough, Yeager had the rest of the trainees practically eating out of the palms of his hands! 

Jean could have handled that though. He could have put up with Yeager and his annoying behavour, could have faced the fact that the others worshipped him, could have just ignored his little rants and speaches about how everyone needed to protect and serve, even lay their lives down if they needed too, to protect those of the royal families, but what he couldn't handle or except was the fact that _she_ was so helplessly in love with _him_!

The first time Jean ever saw her face, his heart speed up and stopped at the same time. His palms began to sweat and a million and one different reasons she was perfect ran threw his mind and smoshed together in a pink, heartshaped puddle of goo. He began to tremble and shake as she walked by, longside Yeager and the little bookworm Armin, her gaze directed soley on the dark haired boy at her side. Without a doubt, she was the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen in his entire life! Mikasa Ackerman, head of the class, toughest fighter, 2nd smartest kid after Armin, all around a swell gal! For him, it was love at first sight but for her...he was just an annoying little insect that stood in the way of her shoot with that damn Yeager! Did her rejection turn him bitter? Yes. Was he going to force himself upon her? No. She had made it very clear that he had about a bunny's chance in hell with her. She had fallen for someone else and her love for him was stronger and even if he couldn't be her lover, Jean could at least be in her life. Unfortantly, Mikasa had about as much interest in being his friend as he had in becoming a trader like his dad.

Luckily for him, he had taken so long to work up the courage to admit to the girl that he was kinda in love with her, that there was only a couple more days left with training before everyone was assigned to the royal family they'd be protecting. This way, he didn't have to stare at her making lovey dovey eyes at her dream beau all day long while his meals churned together in his stomach all day long. 

During his first week at the training camp, Jean Kirstein had realized that there were two things he really wanted to do before graduating. One: He wanted to get a loving kiss on the lips from Mikasa Ackerman, his dream girl, and two: He wanted to punch that stupid Eren Yeager right in his ugly face! Seeing as he couldn't do the first one, a stubborn, now fifteen year old Jean saw no reason as to why he couldn't accomplish the first. 

* * *

Eren sat at one of the tables near the back, chugging down some mead and gobbling down a chunk of bread. Mikasa sat on one side of him, Armin the other, each eating their meal and talking about the events of the day. Seeing them there like that made Jean's blood boil. There was Yeager, the perfect woman at his side trying to tell him about her day and all he could think about was food! How dare he!? If Jean was in his position, he would have been hanging off of Mikasa's every word and begging her to go on! How could he just push her aside like that!? Was he gay or something!?

Whatever his reasons, Jean was going to brake his noise. 

Clenching his fists together, Jean started walking towards them slowly, trying to drown out the stubborn little part of his brain that was screaming at him to be reasonable and not hurt the kid! Odds were if he actually saw his little plot threw, Mikasa wouldn't even consider him an insect anymore and would beat him within an inch of his life! But that only made his anger levels rise. Mikasa was too good of a woman to settle for the likes of someone like him!

"Hey Kirstein!" Sasha Blouse, a hungry but fun little lady from Carthage called to him from across the room, chunks of bread spewing from her mouth as she spoke. "Come on over here man! We saved you some chow!"

"Yeah!" Connie added, a wild grin on his face. "Come on over before Sash eats it on you!"

As if it had been waiting for the beck and call of his friends, Jean's stomach growled hungrily in response. Damn it...he hadn't eaten a thing all day. Breakfast had been skipped due to him being a lazy bones and refusing to get out of bed during the time designated for food consumtion and the soon to be graduates had worked threw lunch. Oh these descisions were the hardest...should he punch that stupid idiot Yeager in the face or eat his food before his hungry little friends got to it? His stomach growled again in protest, wondering why the hell the guy hadn't already sat down and eaten already. He groaned, knowing that he'd regret this later as he walked towards the table where the two were sitting and sat down inbetween them. 

"What's for dinner?" He asked, looking at the two of them with a sullen expression, wishing that it could have been possible to eat and beat the shit of yeager all in one day. 

"The usual," Sasha said, pushing a plate of semi-hot food towards him. "Bread, potatoes and some meat."

Looking down at the mashed up, blended together, mush he had to call his meal for the day, Jean wished he had some more food from that care package his parents had given him left. Sadly, the majority of that food had been sacrificed to ensure a friendship with Sasha who had eyed it with a great deal of want when the boy had first opened it up and the rest had been downed in the weeks after so she couldn't get her hands on it again. Oh well. Just a few more days and he would be eating food from the finest markets in the world, occasionally eating alongside the people he was going to protect. 

The thought alone was enough to make dealing with Yeager for two years totally worth it!

* * *

"Listen up graduates," Keith Shadis, or as the trainees liked to call, the son of satin, screamed at them in the same demanding tone he'd used when training them for this exact moment. Although he wasn't in trouble, Jean couldn't help but wince at the voice. For some reason Shadis hadn't been exactally fond of him. God knows why! Jean thought he was the perfect example of a trainee! He worked hard for everything he got! What more did the man ask of him!? "In exactally five minutes, the gates will open up and the royal families of Europe will enter. Three of you will be selected to go with each family as new additions to their guard. Volunteers will go first then I will send you off one by one."

Along with his friends and his fellow trainees, Jean stood in the grand halls of the justice building. Built a years ago, for the new graduates to hold their cermonies, just standing there was quite an honour. It had a reputation for being the most beautiful landmark in all of Europe, with spacious rooms, high cielings, paintings and sculptures made by the best artists in the world, Jean was quite taken back at how incredible it was! If his neighbours back home could see him now, standing there alongside what would become the world's toughiest fighters, soon to protect the royal families of the world and enure their political system was the best it could possibily be! Oh, he could see the faces of his neighbours when he returned home for the holidays, children and the elderly would stare at him in awe, the other adults would have sophisticated conversations with him and they'd talk about horses and taxes and other adult stuff! Oh he was as excited as a child on Christmas!

He had been so lost in thought that when Shadis stopped talking, Jean hadn't even noticed. He hadn't noticed when he stepped in line with the graduates and waited for the gates to open and the royals to enter the room with them. He didn't notice Connie and Sasha trembling in excitement, or Eren grinning like a madman, or Armin shake nervously. He didn't notice at first, when the gates finally opened and people began walking in with their heads held high and former graduates with their weapons at their side. He did notice, however, when after the royal family from Carthage entered the hall, a tall boy with a hord of freckles, a shy small, a light red blush spreadaing across his cheeks, dark hair that looked like someone had attempted to comb it but had given up halfway threw, dressed in bright clothes made from what could only be the finest cottons and silks, entered the room following a man and woman with similar features and stoic faces and clothes made from the same materials. The adults looked like the perfect picture of grace whilst the boy looked like a child who'd gotten into his mommy's makeup and decided to play jewelry. Now, he had defenitly captured Jean's attention!

"Young Prince Marco..." He said softly, his eyes widening into large, round saucers out of pure surprise. The young prince that had inspired him to pursure this career...wasn't so young anymore...

_And he looked incredible!_

 

 


	3. Diamonds in the Flesh

Chapter Two: Diamonds in the Flesh

You know how some children when younger wish to have siblings so they won't be so lonely and would have someone to play with? Young Prince Marco used to be one of those children, until his parents hired a certain girl as a servant. Marco took a liking to her almost right away, especially since she was only a couple years older than he himself and would happily play any game he wanted. After she showed up at the palace looking for employment, Marco had never been lonely enough to wish for a younger sibling again. He didn't need one! As time went on, the young girl grew older and became his family's head servant, a job which contained of only one task: Keep Marco entertained whilst not causing any mischief. The promotion suited them both well...until young Prince Marco wasn't so young anymore and all of his free time was divided up between socializing at parties with nobels and other blue bloods and studying history and economics for when he ascended to the throne. 

After a long night of studying the history of Trost, the dark haired boy had retired to his bed, pushing the enormous amount of text books his mother brought into his room from the library aside. He needed to sleep...after all...tomorrow was another long day for the royal prince of Trost. 

Don't get Marco wrong, he loved who he was and he knew that he should have been grateful that he wasn't out in the streets, a starving urchin but...sometimes he didn't feel exactaly free around the palace he called home. It felt to him that he was a prisoner in fine silk clothes and silver jewlery. It was silly but...that's just how things looked in his brown eyes. A prisoner with a crown. Did all these negative feelings mean he was going to run away from home or do something stupid like that? Of course not. They were nothing but bubbling little feelings he got whenever his mother dicussed politics around the dinner table. Like he had a basket tied onto his back and everyone kept placing rocks in it, weighing him down. Did all royalty feel this way? He didn't dare ask the ones he had to call his friends, fearing their answers.

That night, like every other night, Prince Marco's dreams were composed of nothing but nightmares that left him feeling hallow. If anyone asked him to describe them or try to piece them all together, he wouldn't be able to. All he could make out from the dreams were a girl with blonde hair who wanted to kill him for some reason he could never figure out, a horse with brown eyes and soaring high in the sky, with clouds all around him. He had been have these nightmares all his life and these were the only things he could ever remember from them.  All he ever saw when he shut his eyes and drifted off were them and although he couldn't connect them all together, Marco knew that it had something to do with his death. That was the only way to explain the horrible empty feeling he got once he woke up. 

Lucky for him, the next morning he had been woken up by the head servant herself, instead of waking up in a cold sweat like so many times before. 

Not one to follow traditional instructions, She leapt on top of Prince Marco's sleeping form and proceeded to shake him awake with a mad grin. "Get up lazy bones! Come on now! You know how long it takes to do your hair! We only have two hours to begin with!"

"Hangeeee~!" Marco groaned, his eyes still shut and only rolling over onto his side in response to this rude awakening. Although he was used to it after all these years. Hange didn't know any other way to wake a person up. Of course, this would only add to the tangles in his hair and make everything a whole lot more painful for him and his servants later on. "Can't I sleep for a few more minutes?"

Hange Zoë, head servant to the royal family of Trost and an overly enthusiastic worker, only shook her head, causing the frames of her glasses to slide down onto the bridge of her nose. "Sorry there bud, but you know the rules! We have to get you up a head of time so you can eat, dress up nice and," Her gaze was directed to the mop of hair Marco was forced to call his own, composed almost entirely of knots and tangles. "...Fix your hair."

"Why is this so important again?" Marco asked and sat up in bed, ignoring the older girl who was still sitting on his lap, right in his personal space bubble. "What is it that I have to get done today?"

"Well," Hange started to explain, her grin morphing away and a pang of envy in her eyes. "The new Military Police Graduates are being divided up between the thrones today. You know how everyone likes it when all of royal status are in attendance." 

Oh. That explained that then. Hange was still bitter about being turned away from The Military Police after all these years. Marco never understood why she didn't just wait and apply once she was of the legal age...perhaps there was another reason she'd been rejected? Maybe the officers didn't like her approach to dealing with situations. It would suit her up just fine. 

"Anything else?" He asked and with a gentle push, suceeded in knocking Hange off him. If he was to get up, eat and dress then he needed to be able to move with out that monkey hanging all over him. It seemed like a big waste of precious nap time to get all dolled up just for an hour long ceramony and then come straight home. That was his opinion though, and everyone else seemed to be in disagreement with him about such.

"...There _is_ one more thing." Hange said, her tone suddenly changing to one of a grim nature. Marco stiffened, knowing that this was not going to end well on his part. That was the same tone Hange had used when he was a young boy and his pet cat had ran away and the tone she'd used when some servants had lost his beloved childhood teddybear. It was the tone used for when she had to tell him something that would brake his heart and crush him. "...The matter of your betrothal-"

"THEY AREN'T MARRYING ME OFF TODAY ARE THEY?!" Marco screamed out in alarm, a new fear settling in his chest. He had been hoping that his parents would forget about his engagment with all of the issues with the other kingdoms stirring up or at least call it off until things stimmered down. This way, there was a slight chance that Marco would have been able to find love on his own and convince his parents to let whoever it was ascend to the throne. Alas...it was a shot in the dark even if he had the opportunity to find someone alone....A prince had to marry someone of noble birth and if it wasn't a wise choice that would bring peace to the kingdoms...well...then he wouldn't be sitting on the Throne of Trost for very long. "I MEAN THEY CAN'T HAVE FOUND A SUITOR ALREADY....CAN THEY!?"

When Hange didn't say anything, Marco knew he had his answer. With a heavy heart the young prince slumped over, sighing sadly. "...I-Is it someone I know? Fro-from one of the neighbouring kingdoms?"

"It's...Princess Ymir of the Karanese Isles..."

"YMIR!?" Marco exclaimed, "I CAN'T MARRY YMIR!!! FOR ONE THING SHE'S NOT INTERESTED IN COMPANY OF MEN AND FOR ANOTHER SHE SCARES ME!" He shuddered at the thought of her on their wedding day. She'd beat up the priest, eat the entire feast and get into a fight with the generals of his parents' army! Oh dear...a horrible thought occured to him. What if she actually had an interest with both men and women and was looking forward to marrying him!? WHAT IF IT HAD BEEN ALL HER IDEA!? Oh. Oh. OH! His heart was beating so fast it might have burst out of his chest. "Oh no..." 

"My thoughts exactly." Hange said with a nod, "I tried to convince them to let you marry someone else but I'm afraid that...the choices were slim. Most of the other hiers and young dukes and duchesses are in the same boat and already engaged."

"W-what about Princess Annie? Of Dauper? The kingdom in the mountains...?" Marco asked, desperation growing. Anyone would be better than Ymir, even Princess Annie who had a reputation for being cold and unfeeling. Ymir was just...she was a conqueror. A pleasant girl, a strong allie, a good leader but a ruthless fighter who wanted to extend her kingdom's borders! Everyone knew it was only a matter of time before she invaded the nearbye island of Stohess, home of the Braun family, allies and friends of the Bodt family for close to fifty years. What were his parents thinking choosing her!?

"Engaged to Prince Bertolt Hoover of Shiganshina. Your friend, Prince Reiner Braun of Stohess is in a similar state with Prince Berwick of Ragako, the island owned by the nation of Carthage."

Marco froze, "They're letting him marry another man?!"

"Stohess and Ragako, as well as the Karanese Isles don't have any prejudices against same sex relationships. Rome and Greece, which influence them greatly have no issues with homosexuality and even participate in the organizations of orgies-"

"Stop!" Marco told her, covering his ears. "I didn't need to know that." He himself had no issues with the subject of man/man or woman/woman interactions, he just tended to turn into a goshy, emotional mess whenever someone brought up the topic of sexual encounters. 

"Their marriage will strengthen the kingdoms' alliance so their families saw no issues in such a thing-" Hange started to say, only for Marco to interupt once more. 

"Wouldn't the King think it better to marry Reiner off to Ymir? This way, it'd end the fued between the kingdoms over land..." He was well aware that by suggesting this, Prince Marco was tossing his friend into the mouth of a dragon but he was growing very worried. His engagment was more of a punishment in his dark eyes. Not a thing of love. But...it would help his people...and so if it was absoulutely necessary, Marco would go through with it. For the sake of Trost. 

"That's another thing, my lord," Hange said with a frown, tilting her head down to avoid eye-contact with the prince. "...The kingdoms of Stohess and Karanese have now entered the early stages of war. The garduation ceramony of the new Military Police will be the last time the families of each kingdom will be together peacefully. Then..." She sighed. "Well...You know what happens then."

"War." Marco said, that one word sending shivers up and down his spine. Soon...the peace that had settled between the kingdoms would be shattered and everyone who had an issue with his family and their business would be out for blood. It was a good thing the new guards would be arriving at the palace soon. They may be the only thing keeping the prince of Trost from getting his throat slit while he slept. 

"...Yes..." Hange said with a grim nod. "But...we musn't focus on that now. Let's get you all cleaned up for the graduation and we'll see what we can do about such dark matters later!" She forced a grin, though Marco could tell it was just to keep him from having a nervous breakdown. "I heard that they will be serving pudding during the feast afterwards! So...that's nice!"

"Pudding is always nice." Marco agreed, though he didn't force himself to smile fakely. A smile was something that had to be genuine or else...why would you even bother with one?

* * *

Once he was all dresssed up nice and pretty looking, Marco met his parents in the main hall of the palace, along with many of the Military Police Officers who would acompany them on the journey to the training camp. Although he didn't smile, Marco talked to them as if there was nothing going on behind his back that upset him, as if it was just another peachy day in the land, and didn't object to a thing they said to him. It was a prince's job to obey his parents' every rule, no matter how strict or ridiculous. If his parents asked him to strip, he'd say how bare, if they told him to run around town like a mad man, he'd ask which part of town. Good little princes listened to their parents. That's what all they did. 

Soon, the royal family, their Military Police Officers, Hange and a handful of other servants were on their way to the graduation ceramony. No one onboard besides the Prince knew how much he wanted to leap off the side of the boat...even though he'd never do such a thing. Although it tempted him. One little jump and then he wouldn't have to marry a brute...but the kingdom would most likely fall and he couldn't have that. 

Another thing that Princes did was make sure their people lived happily, even at the cost of their own happiness and freedom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The first royal family introduced, from the Island Of Trost, The Botts!
> 
> King: Gilbert Bott, the only son of the former king and queen of Trost, took over after his parent's untimely demise in a shipwreck. Looks an older version of his son only with lighter hair and no freckles. Gilbert is a fair ruler despite his habit of flaunting wealth.
> 
> Queen: Rosa Bott, Gilbert's wife threw arranged marriage. Was born into a noble family, with a father who had a great deal of wealth and power, thus making her the most eligible for the prince, despite being a great deal younger than him. Marco gets his darker hair and freckles from her. She is a good politician and believes marrying her shy son off quicker would be a smarter career move.
> 
> Prince: Marco Bott, Rosa and Gilbert's only child, the next in line for the throne. He is 16 years old, shy but incredibly sweet and gentle. This leads a lot of his citizens to believe their kingdom will soon be attacked by one of the fiercer royal-lines. He was practically raised by his servants and holds a special relationship with them all. He is arranged to be wed to Princess Ymir of the Karanese Isles. 
> 
> Head Servant: Hange Zoë, an easily excitable servant for the Bott family. After being turned away by the Military Police for being too young, she opted to instead serve the royal family of her homeland another way. It is her job, as head servant, to make sure that Marco doesn't get into any mischief...although she usually causes it for him.


	4. Cutting teeth on wedding rings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay! A new chapter! With New Characters! Enjoy and comment after you finish reading!

After arriving at the justice building, Prince Marco was swept away from his parents and servants by some of the Military Police Officers involved in the ceramony and brought to a room off to the side of the main hall. Having been involved with many graduation ceramonies before, Marco knew that this was were all the younger members of high society were to gather. This way, they couldn't overhear anything their parents dicussed, in case it involed them (Which it usually did) and they could get along better with each other. 

You'd think that the adults would have taken a page from their own lives and caught on. 

Lounging around the room, doing nothing but arguing with each other, were the other young princes and princesses of the neighbouring kingdoms. Included in the group were some Marco could call his friends, others he couldn't and worse of all...his ruthless fiance. 

Princess Ymir was laying on a bed of pillows, her gaze directed upwards at the stone ceiling as she argued with some of the others, a certain fireceness in her voice that made Marco want to turn around and run. He couldn't do that though, he reminded himself. Everyone in the world had problems and compaired to the problems his people would have if the Karanese Isles invaded his kingdom. There had been worse marriages before, he could handle it. 

"Hey Marco!" Prince Betolt Hoover of Shiganshina, a small kingdom boarding Germania, called out, waving eagerly upon seeing him. Judging from the glint in his eyes, Marco had arrived during another arguement and Bertolt was looking to him to bail him out. Poor guy had never really liked fighting, having been exposed to the vicious forums and debates held in his parents' court. Feeling bad for him, Marco figured it couldn't hurt to take one for him. 

Not bothering to plaster on a smile, the prince of Trost walked towards the group and dropped down in the bundle of pillows that had been set up for them to lay around in. He might as well make himself comfortable, seeing as he wasn't going to be going anyway for a bit. It usually took Shadis a couple of hours to get all his graduates in line and go over that little speach about what to do with them. If there were a couple of jokesters in the group, then he'd have to pull them aside and scream them into submission before setting them back up in place. Hell, they could all be there for a couple of days!

"Hello guys." He greeted them all, recieving a round of greetings in reponse. "It's been awhile since we were here huh?" Whenever he couldn't think of something to say, he usually just started off with simple things like that. No matter how boring it sounded! He looked around, noticing that most seemed to have disconnected from the conversation. "...So...I heard about your engagments..." Marco started to say, "...Congratulations..."

Ymir snorted in response and rolled over onto her side so her back was to him. Well, at least Marco knew that she had no interest in him and his fears that she actually had feelings for him were nothing but a bunch of silly ideas that popped up into his head after finding out about their arrangement. He felt a tad better now. From the looks the others were giving him though, it didn't take long to piece together that not too many of the others were happy about their betrothals. In fact, the only ones who didn't seem upset about who they were being wedded off too were Prince Reiner and Prince Berwick, two young men that Marco had been friends with for years. Berwick grinned, wide enough to show off his pearly white, sharp, canine-like teeth,

"Oh yeah it's really something ain't it man?" Berwick asked, his tone overly chipper as per the norm. He laughed, elbowing the nearest person, who happened to be Marco himself, in the gut and gestured to Ymir. "Looks like someone's eager to walk down the isle with you, huh?!"

"Shut up." Ymir hissed, not bothering to look at them. Maybe that was for the best. Marco didn't know if he could face her and her relationships with the others in the room, namely Reiner and Berwick, was not what one would hope for when it came to politics. "You do know that I can order the best army the world's ever seen to charge into your territory without leaving this room, right? I could wipe out your nation without so much as blinking an eye."

"Oh big tough girl!" Reiner said with a grin of his own, nudging the girl playfully. "Hey come on! We're only having fun!"

"We're not supposed to be having fun. We're royalty, the representations of our people, of our cultures, of our believes and our land." Ymir told him, her voice as serious and strict as ever. Marco gulped. Man...being married to her was going to be a real fun time, hmm? Although he hadn't put too much thought into before, Marco had always known that he wanted to fall in love and marry someone who knew how to have a fun time. They couldn't just be fun though, they had to be caring and sweet, loving and brave and confident too. Was that too much for him to ask? Was there no people like this in all of Europe?

"You can be royal and have fun." Princess Annie of Dauper, a kingdom composed soley of hunters, located way up in the mountains near Scandanavia, piped up with a wicked smile on her face, "Leading your people on a hunt is fun! Leading the warriors to war is fun! There's tons of things royals do that are fun!"

Bertolt paled and inched away from her, looking completely horrifed at her words. Something told Marco that he wasn't as happy with his arrangement as he thought he would have been. Having known Bertolt since childhood, Marco knew all about the crush he used to have on her. That didn't explain his reaction to her words, leading to a new set of questions forming together in his mind. Had Bertolt fallen for someone else? It was possible. He had always been one to fall easily. But who was it?

"I guess you're right there, Annie!" Berwick said, falling backwards onto the pillows and rolling around for a bit before snuggling up against his fiance's side, wrapping his large arms, musclar from years of athletic training, around Reiner and pulling him close. Marco paled. Like mentioned before, he had no problems with homosexualty. His beef was with public displays of affection of this magnitude. Small, soft kisses were cute and okay but this...He felt like his cherry was going to pop just by watching them together. 

"Stop that!" Annie commanded them, quickly grabbing a loose pillow and chucking it at their heads. "Enough with that ' _Lovey-dovey_ ' crap! It's gross!"

For once, Marco agreed with her.

* * *

A couple minutes after the third hour passed by on the clock, with nothing done or accomplished with the group other than more couple moments from Berwick and Reiner, a sling of insults from Ymir, Annie beating the two up with pillows and succeeding in ripping a couple open and Bertolt saying and doing nothing but shifting uncomfortably and sweating bullets, some of The Military Police Officers arrived to get them ready for the ceramony. It was tradition for the royal families to stand together in line, looking their best, and enter the room looking like divine gods. There was a particular order the families had to be in and it always took a good twenty minutes to get them in line.

They took Ymir first, putting her and her family at the front of the line, followed by Annie, then Bertolt, Reiner and Berwick. Marco's family was always at the end of the line, due to their landmass and population being the smallest. It was a little embarassing but at least by the time he and his parents entered the room, the focus was off of them. He knew he shouldn't have been nervous, after all he'd done this many times before, but somehow he always resorted to a blushing mess. 

"...You're messing up your make-up." His mother whispered to him, her eyes glancing down at her son as they waited to go threw the doors. "...Should I call for Hange to come and fix it before we go out there?"

One of Marco's hands drifted up to touch his cheek. "Oh...it's fine...I'll be alright. It's not like it's going to hurt me or anything..." If he was to be completely honest with you, Marco would have confessed that he actually didn't want to talk to his mother at the moment. She could have at least told him about Ymir instead of having Hange tell him for her! It might have hurt a little less this way. 

"If you say so." His mother said with a shrug. 

The gates finally opened and the line began to drift in, an auroura surrounding them all that made them seem like the heroes out of the tales Marco was told as a little child. Their heads held high, expenssive jewelry jingling around their necks and wrists, their Military Police guards walking at their sides with their weapons thumping against their hips. It must have looked amazing to the new recruits, some of whom were seeing royals for the first time. The thought made Marco feel out of place. Everyone else seemed like strong warriors, beautiful figures and amazing beings overall while he was just...average. 

Like the others, he walked along threw the hall with his parents following close behind him. A soft red blush spread across his cheeks as he felt everyone's eyes fall on him. Being the center of attention wasn't one of the things he enjoyed. A quick night at home with a few good books and a couple of snacks, the stars visible in the night sky outside his window, that was a night he would have enjoyed. He came to a stop along the left side of the room and stood beside Berwick and the rest, looking out at the group of people who would soon be protecting his life with theirs. 

"Young Prince Marco..." Someone in the crowd said, although it was muffled by the other noises in the room. Marco perked up a bit and started looking around for whomever was calling for him. Looking for one person though, in a group of over one hundred graduates, was like looking for a needle in a haystack. 

"Ladies and gentlemen!" Keith Shadis, the strict but wise man who trained these brave young men and women to perfection screamed out to them, unaware that the loud noise made Bertolt wince and cover his ears. "May I introduce to you, the royal families of Europe! Take a good look around folks, they will be the people you are willing to die for!" 

Upon screaming these words, an uncomfortable silence fell of over the crowd. It was usual though. Meeting the people you were expected to lay down your life for for the first time was a bit unnerving and often left graduations unable to think for a couple of minutes as they processed this new information. Marco wondered how many of them were regretting their choices already...

"Are there any volunteers?!" Shadis shouted at the crowd, "Anyone who had a particular place they'd rather protect!?"

"I do sir!" Someone in the crowd screamed back in response.

"And just who are you!?"

"My name is Sasha Blouse and I would prefer to guard the royal family of Dauper! Seeing as it's my hometown, I would prefer to work there!"

"Understood and approved!" Shadis screamed back. "ANY OTHERS?!"

"I have one!" Another person called out, "My name is Armin Arlert, and I would like to go to Shiganshina!"

"Understood and approved! Anyone else!?"

"Me sir!" A third person screamed out but didn't step forward. 

"Who said that?!" Shadis shouted, looking around at the crowd with fierce, preditor-like eyes. "COME FORWARD MAGGOT!"

A tall man with a long face, dressed in the uniform of the Military Police stepped forward from the crowd, earning him some astonished looks from the ones standing around him. This one man with dark hair and big green eyes looked like this new volunteer had suddenly shot up fifteen feet and started eating everyone in the room! It was kinda funny. Okay, really funny! Marco had to suppress a giggle at their faces which was politer than what some of the others were doing, snickering and giggling behind their hands. Then again, they hadn't exactaly passed their lessons on how to properly act in formal events such as this one. The man had ash brown hair, with dark brown sides and the beadiest, most intense shade of brown eyes Marco had ever seen.

"KIRSTEIN!" Shadis thundered, looking more than a little shocked himself. "WHAT THE HE-"

"Royal company." Armin piped up, "It's not good manors to swear in the company of royalty."

"...Right...RIght..." The instructor said with an eyeroll, wiping some sweat off his brow. "...Look, Kirstein, what are you doing...?"

"I want to protect the royal family of the island of Trost." This man, this Kirstein, insisted. "I want a change of scenery from my old town but I don't want to be too far away incase my folks need me. Therefore, I want to go to Trost."

The instructor looked around, as if he needed some help dealing with this guy. However, to keep up appearances and make everything fair, he just nodded a couple of times, looking like he wanted to go crawl under a rock and die. "...Understood and approved..." Shadis said, knowing that he was going to regret those words someday if he just lived long enough. The man was a moron, who was going to face a horrible death. If only he had chosen to go back home instead...than Shadis would have a better feeling about this particular assignment. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Royal Family of Stohess
> 
> Queen: Reyna Braun, the former general of the greatest army in all of Greece. Was awarded the throne after her army won land from three neighboring kingdoms. In Stohess's short time, it has flourished under her rule. She is a strong, brave and noble leader. 
> 
> King: Tobias Braun, a former explorer of the world. Tobias was born far from Greece, and spent his youth traveling the world. He had been everywhere, writing down every detail in his prized journal before retiring to Stohess. He fell for Reyna, unaware of her powerful position and won her over with his knowledge of the world and sense of humor. He is a gentle but firm king, loyal to his family and his people. 
> 
> Prince: Magnus Braun, the oldest and twin brother of Elizabeta. He is a bit of a disappointment to the family, spending his time laying about, drinking and womanizing. His behavior lead to the throne, which had been his up until this point, being taken away from him. He is bitter about the whole thing but unwilling to give up his lifestyle. Despite his bitterness, he is a fun brother and surprisingly charming. 
> 
> Princess: Elizabeta Braun, the only girl and younger twin of Magnus. She takes after her father with a curiosity for things far from home. After her brother's crown was taken from him and offered to her, she refused on the grounds of wanting to leave and explore the world like her father did. She is intelligent, brave and fair. 
> 
> Prince: Reiner Braun, the 3rd born child. He was named after his mother(Since his parents had been expecting a girl and had no male names prepared, a slight alteration to the name was made) and takes after her too. He is athletic, strong and brave, loyal and charming. He is considering taking the throne, although he would prefer going into the army and becoming a warrior. He is engaged to his childhood friend, Prince Berwick of Ragako.
> 
> Prince: Luka Braun, the youngest child. When he was younger, Luka looked up to his brother Reiner but when Magnus and Elizabeta rejected the throne and it fell to him, Luka grew jealous. After hitting puberty early, Luka soon blossomed into the fairest person in all of Europe. He is ambitious and charming, polite as well, although no one knows about his ulterior motives. No one also knows about the secret relationship he is in with a woman 10 years older than himself. 
> 
> Head Servant: Krista Lenz, a shy and sweet young girl, born out of an affair. After her mother's death, her father brought her to Stohess and told her to forget her old name, replacing it with Krista Lenz. Unable to get work anywhere else, Tobias took pity on her and offered her a job. She began to bond with the family, especially Prince Reiner, who's interactions with her switch from playful flirting to protective big brother.


	5. "I'm not proud of my address..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay! A new chapter! With New Characters! Enjoy and comment after you finish reading! I can see you all there.

Much to his disapointment, Jean was not allowed to be anywhere near Prince Marco or his parents for the first couple weeks at Trost. He suspected this was because of Shadis's reaction to him voluentering to go, leaving a bad taste in the mouths of his new bosses but then again it could have just as easily been an tradition they did here. Give you a feel of the palace before sending you to their aid. After all, it'd be kinda bad if you were instructed to make the king a sandwich and ended up in the bathroom instead of the kitchen. Triple that if someone important was taking a bath. 

Now...Jean could lie to you and say that wasn't how he and Prince Marco were properly introduced but he couldn't. As embarassing as it might have been at the time, it was the funniest thing ever to happen in both of their lives.

It had all started when Jean was once again left to his own devices while the other Military Police escourted the king and queen outside for a daily walk around the market(Although he doubted you could call it a walk when you yourself were not walking. Having people carry you around and taking a little stroll were completely different things) and would not return back to the palace for a few hours. Usually, he'd be bossed around by his superiors and made carry in supplies or items purchased earlier on but with nothing to do and no one around, he had to find something to occupy himself. 

He wandered the palace halls for a bit, ocassionally bumping into one of the servants running around and cleaning everything up to the royal standards. He had interacted with them all before, knew their names and such, so talking with them was able to sustain his need for attention for a little bit. There was this one nice lady called Hange who was fun to hang out with, a fun girl who reminded him of Sasha. Speaking of Sasha, Jean was still in touch with her and Connie as well as a couple of others from his training days, although not all of them brought happy news. Franz, Samuel and Hannah, three friends who'd been shipped off to Carthage, wrote him with tales of uprisings, numerous assasination attempts and even war threats pouring in. All this and it was only their first two weeks! And he had thought it would be hard keeping the bluebloods here safe!

Too soon Hange had to leave to clean the king and queen's privite chambers, a place forbidden to anyone who wasn't ordered to be in there, and Jean was once again off on his mission to find something to do. As long as he didn't run into that moody little servant with the beady eyes and lust for cleaning than Jean was up for anything. Or, more likely, that was what he had thought he was okay with doing. He hadn't been expecting what came next.

While taking a casual stroll through the west-wing of the palace, admiring some of the artworks that hung on the walls and whistling a soft tune under his breath, he heard something incredibly soft and soothing coming from behind one of the many large, oak doors. He stopped, both walking and whistling, in an attempt to hear the noise better and figure out what could possibly be making it.

"- _Your head close to my heart, Never to part, baby of mine.  Little on, when you play, pay no heed what they say. Pay no heed what they say. Let your eyes sparkle and shine, never a tear, baby of mine_.-" _If they knew all about you, they'd end up loving you too. All those same people who scold you, What they'd give just for the right to hold you_ -" 

Someone was singing. Someone nearby was sining! That was certainly odd...usually all the servants kept to themselves and tried not to make as much noise as possible. For someone to suddenly start singing...well it was certainly something new. Unable to help himself Jean began to follow the sound of singing, wanting to know who was able to sing so beautifully.

"- _If they knew all about you, they'd end up loving you too. All those same people who scold you, What they'd give just for the right to hold you_ -" 

Jean followed the singing to a door at the far end of the hall, one he hadn't been in before even after living within the palace for two whole weeks! Once Erwin, the captain of their branch of the Military Police, returned home from the walk, he would ask him why that was. It seemed to Jean that all members of the police should know what lied behind every door in case they had to go searching for something. It wouldn't help him now though. He had to know who was doing the singing. 

"- _You're not much, goodness knows. But you're so precious to me, Sweet as can be, baby of mine_ -" 

Withour properly thinking it over Jean grabbed the doorknob and burst into the room, eagerly looking forwards to seeing the owner of that incredible voice! His eager expression quickly morphed into one of sheer horror at what he saw. He needed to learn to use his head and think things through, he really did! 

...But at least now he knew why he hadn't been allowed in that room before...

There Prince Marco was, naked as the very day he was born, sitting in the bathtub and calmly washing his hair, still singing that song to himself. Jean was lucky that he didn't notice him right away, what with the overdramatic enterance, but what was done was done. He had done something that would literally scare the crap out of others. He'd walked in on his boss/boss's son and seen him naked! His stomach did a backflip and he was unable to stop a hot, red blush from sweeping across his face. God damn it...Jean should have just gone to Dauper with Sasha...

Okay. Prince Marco hadn't seen him there yet. He could sneak out of the room while the Prince's attention was still on his hair and pretend that it had never even happened. He would go on living like he hadn't seen a certain...appendage of the soon-to-be king. He could pretend that he'd walked in right when Prince Marco was about to drop the towel and ran out before he could see anything. There was absoulutely no need for him to panic like this...Just start inching towards the door quietly and no one will be the wiser...

"- _And I_ -" Marco trailed off, suddenly feeling very odd about this. Something was off in this picture but what? With soap in his eyes, the young prince reached to grab a towel and clean the gunk out of his eyes. Once he could see again, Marco realized what was wrong. " **HEY**! **WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING IN HERE**!? **GE-GE-GET OUT**!"

" **I'M SORRY**!" Jean screamed, covering his face with one arm and making a mad dash out of the room. Oh man! Why had he done that?! He was so going to get fired now! He was going to be the first person this year to get a dishonorable discharge, all because he had gotten bored and stumbled upon another man taking a bath! Granted, this was the freaking prince we were talking about here but still!

Alright. Maybe it would be okay. He could ignore this ever happened. If Prince Marco didn't bring it up, he'd act and lie and deny that it had ever happened! Yes...this is what he'd do...and he'd try and push the reoccuring thought that the Prince he was supposed to be guarding with his life had a very nice body out of his head...because Jean liked girls. Swords, wrestling and girls...MANLY THINGS! MANLY!

...

He was _ SO_ going to get kicked out of here!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Royal Family of the Karanese Isles
> 
> Queen: Frigga, A very power-hungry queen who is willing to do whatever it takes to make sure her kingdoms and riches flourish. Her husband died shortly after their youngest daughter was born. The Karanese Isles believe last names for royalty are unneeded. Their last name had been dropped years ago and forgotten. 
> 
> Princess: Thrudd, 22 years old and eventual queen of Karanese. She and her sister have a strained relationship although they are trying to get along. Thrudd plans on making Ymir her adviser as well as giving her total control of their army when she comes of age. No one knows about her secret relationship with a man years younger than herself...or that his from an enemy kingdom. 
> 
> Princess: Ymir, the youngest child of the royal family. She, like her mother, is very power hungry but is such because she only wants what's best for her people, unlike her mother who is greedy. She hates the thought of being married to Prince Marco but if it will help her kingdom, will go through with it.


	6. In a torn-up town, no postcode envy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter! Enjoy and comment after you finish reading! Seriously, could use some comments over here, if you all don't mind.

When Erwin Smith returned home to the palace after a long day of lugging the king and queen around on his back, the last thing he expected to see was one of the newbies to their branch of the Military Place waiting for him. Jean Kirstein if he remembered correctly. The kid was sitting on one of the beds in their quarters, almost shaking and staring down at his hands. The guy looked like he'd gone through hell...but it couldn't be anything too serious. If he'd seen someone try and attack someone within the palace the king and queen would have been called back home to deal with the guilty party. 

So how bad could his problem be? 

"Erwin Smith?" Jean asked, his voice broken and weak. This sent chills through Erwin's body. He'd heard his comrades use this tone before but only after they had to take out a conspirator and needed some comfort. Sadly this happened more than the office would have liked to admit. For some reason a lot of folks were out to cut down the monarchy...and sadly their main target seemed to be the next in line for the throne. Poor kid had no idea too but that was a bit of a good thing. If he didn't know that anyone was out to get him than that meant that the officers were doing a great job at keeping him safe. "...Sir...I have done something just plain wrong today..."

This wasn't going to end well. It never did. Whenever someone said this it meant that a person had likely gotten killed for trying to off a member of the royal family. Oh well. The new kid needed him right now so he might as well offer him some comfort taking his first life. It wasn't going to get any easier without it. Erwin sat down beside him on the bed and place a strong hand on his shoulder, "I'm sure it's not too bad." He told him, "What happened?"

Jean shifted awkwardly, his gaze directed at the floor as he tried to think of the right way to say what had happened. He chuckled nervously, hoping the words would come to him. He couldn't just blurt out that he'd seen the freaking prince's naked body and now whenever anyone even mentioned his name, the image popped up in his mind and he found himself unable to properly speak and felt the strangest stirring in his nether-regions which left him even more confused than before! Why did this have to happen to him!? He oculd have lived a thousand years and been completely happy never seeing another man's freckled ass but no! He had to get a good look at the future ruler of Trost's sleak form! Damn it!

Since he wasn't responding, Erwin's concern only grew. He shook Jean a couple of times, hoping to snap him out of whatever mood he'd fallen into. "You okay?" He asked, "What happened? Why aren't you saying anything?" 

Knowing that if he didn't say something soon Erwin would begin to think that he'd killed the damn prince himself, Jean sucked up his pride and just said what was bugging him. "...Sir...Since I was all alone today I just figured I might as well walk around and get a good feel for the place, you know? See the rooms and figure out what was where and if I ever needed to get anything, I'd therefore know where to find it." He paused for a miunte, taking a deep breath before continuing. "...But as I was roaming the halls I heard the most beautiful singing from what had to be the most incredible voice I've ever heard in my life coming from one of the rooms...and well sir I had to find out who the voice belonged to so I followed the voice and without thinking, opened the door to the room the singer was in and I..." He shook his head, the image of what he'd seen the minute that damn door opened entering his head once again. Prince Marco, cleaning his messy dark hair, eyes closed in bliss as he sung that cheery litttle song without any idea of the other male's presence...

Damn...there was that horrible stirring again...

Meanwhile, Erwin's eyes were wide with anticipation as he waited to hear the end of this story. The concern had evaporated seemingly, replaced with great interest. Although he had been living here for years now, the officer usually kept to himself with only the ocassional chat with the lovely head servant Hang, usually about the newest servant in the palace who Ewrin hated to admit was pretty cute. Levi something or other. He wondered if it had been Levi who Jean had heard. If so he might have had to beat the poor kid to death but...even so he kinda wanted to hear the end of the story. 

...

Don't give him that look, Erwin might have been a respectful, decent, hardworking man but he still had the urges of any other human being. Especially since he had to focus so much on making sure that his bosses weren't killed every five seconds or keeping the other officers sane enough to preform their jobs. Hearing about something so...light-hearted and possibly funny (and/or sexy) was something new for the poor guy!

"Go on." The older blond said, waving his other hand in a gesture, hoping that Jean would finish his little tale. 

Jean sighed once more, taking a large, deep breath for courage which he seemed to be lacking at the moment before saying, "...Sir...I went into the room...which was actually a bathroom...and the singer was in the middle of taking a bath with no idea that I was even there...I saw them. I saw the singer completely naked and it's an image I can't get out of my head..."

"Who was the singer?" Erwin asked, his bushy eyebrows furrowing together, concern returning and growing rapidly. He hoped it wasn't Levi. He also hoped it wasn't Hange because if it turned out to be either one of them than Jean better sleep with one eye open. 

"...It was Prince Marco sir." Jean confessed, hanging his head in guilt, pausing just for a minute to let everything sink in. "...I saw the future king of Trost naked in the bath...and then...and then he turned around and saw me and I saw _everything_..." He'd spent his entire life preparing himself for the day he'd be serving a royal family, It was his life-long mission and it was now going to end just because he'd been taken in by the voice of a goddamn seductress! I mean the Prince! GAH! Damn him! Damn his beautiful freckled ass! Stupid man! Stupid, stupid prince! "So...I've been wondering...am I going to get kicked out of this place?"

"Holy shit." This was the first time something like this had ever happened before! Erwin almost couldn't believe what he was hearing! "...That uh...That's quite a little story you have there...." Was he going to get kicked out? This was bad...he actually had never expirenced anything like this before...it was something...and now he kinda wanted to tell the other officers about it...

"W-well?" Jean asked, "Am I going to get kicked out...or what?"

"..." What should he say? Erwin had taken it upon himself to make sure that all of the others were totally comfortable with what was going on at the palace...but he had no idea what to do here. "Oh yeah...Don't sweat it. You'll be fine." 

Was he a horrible person for saying this? Yes but...Prince Marco was a pretty understanding guy. He wasn't going to kick the guy out of the place just because he'd made a stupid mistake...was he? No, that wasn't the prince he knew. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Royal Family of Dauper
> 
> King: Ian Leonhart, the former 2nd command of Reyna Braun's army, awarded the throne of Dauper after a successful military career. A good fighter and father who absolutely adores his daughters.
> 
> Queen: Marrian Leonhart, the daughter of one of the richest barons in Europe, very kind but snobbish. Believes her daughters should live a posh lifestyle. 
> 
> Princess: Alice Leonhart, The oldest child. A very talented cook and gardener. Passionate and graceful.
> 
> Princess: Annie Leonhart, The middle child, taught how to fight by her father and trained to become her kingdom's greatest warrior. Comes off as cold to others but genuinely cares.
> 
> Princess: Abigail Leonhart, the youngest child at 5 years old, the typical, annoying little sister.


	7. But every song's like...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter! Enjoy and comment after you finish reading! Thanks to HorsefaceFreckles for feedback on this fic, it's greatly appreciated! :D Anyways, I was busy with finals so now that they're done, I'm back here!

By the time Marco had finally come to a decision on what to do about the man who'd come peeping in on him during his bath, the sun had long set in the sky, now replaced by hundreds and hundreds of bright stars and a glowing cresent moon. Of course he had never been good with descisions and a matter as private as this one needed to be handled with atmost care. If his parents or any of the servants became aware of what had happened than the man would have been imprisioned immatedly. Now, granted, he might have deserved to be handed this sentence but there was also a chance that it had all been an accident, in which he didn't deserve to head to dungeons. 

"Hange," He called for his servant, eagerly tailing him around in hopes of avoiding the boring and monotone chores that came with her job. It would be alright though, that grumpy little servant Levi handled all the chores around the palace lately anyway. The guy hadn't been around for very long but he already had a reputation amungst the staff for being a cold loner but he did take his duties seriously. VERY seriously. "I have a task for you."

"Yes my prince?" She asked, looking forward to finally being able to get something done. Prince Marco had been usually quiet, even for himself, making her grow concerned. He was still fuming about his engagment to Ymir and it wasn't an uncommon thing for young folk to...do stupid things upon realizing they were being forced to wed people they had never met before or couldn't stand. "What do you require?"

"Go to the guards' rooms and bring me back Erwin Smith and Jean Kirstein." Marco informed her, his back to the young woman as he looked out his bedroom window and admired the stars as he tried to creat a sutable solution for his little problem. "I have to have a word with the two of them." 

With a respectful nod and a "Yes, my prince." Shescampered out of the room. Although Marco was too nice to ever fire her, an order from royalty needed to be carried out as quickly as possible. It was best to get into the habbit of handling things ASAP so in the future, it would stick. This way, if for some reason Prince Marco didn't ascend to the throne, she would already be roaring and ready to go for whoever did. 

After Hange left Prince Marco shut his window and lazily flopped onto his bed. Grace be damned, he was tired and all he wanted to do right now was deal with this issue and then get right back on track. He still had time to talk his parents into cancelling his wedding or at the very least, find him someone else to marry. Anyone but Ymir...he could find some slight form of happiness in marrying anyone else except for Princess Ymir...

* * *

Bunking with the other guards of Trost was a lot like bunking with all of the other trainees back at Jean's old stomping grounds. The others would come in all sweaty and dead tired, ready to collapse from exhustation, swearing and cussing out their superiors or gossiping about who liked who or who was sleeping with whom while changing into their nightclothes and getting ready for bed. That was one of the better things about being stuck inside the palace for his first little bit in Trost, Jean was lucky enough to get to bed early so he didn't have to rush and fight with the others for the showers before the hot water ran out. Instead he got to watch and laugh as the other guys fought in towels, half-naked with bottles of hair-care products in their hands. 

Erwin showered before the others, just because he was the leader of the guards and it would be rude not to let him go first. Like Jean, he was currently in his bunk watching the others scurry around and wrestle for the hot water, smiling slightly as he did such with an old book open on his lap. This little trick was in case someone decided to call him out on his amusement for this, so he could lie and say he was simply reading. Quite ingenius if you asked Jean who was making a mental note to do something similar in the future. 

Suddenly, the door to the room burst open and Hange rushed in, sparing the hald-naked men and women surrounding her no mind as she quickly sprinted to Erwin'd side and tapped on his shoulder. "Smith," She told him. "Prince Marco had requested for you and Jean Kirstein to come to his room for a quick word before curfew." The Prince sounded serious. Perhaps he'd caught wind of a plot to assasinate him in the night and was now coming up with a plan to stop this from happening. "It's urgent."

"Understood." Erwin replied, pushing his book off his lap and sliding it under his pillow before getting up out of his bed and snapping his fingers, gesturing for Jean to follow him. "Come on kid, you heard Hange. Prince Marco wants to have a word."

"R-right..." Jean said, a nervous feeling entering the pit of his stomach as he rose from his bed. "Do you think tha this is about..." His eyes quickly scanned the room, noting the large amount of people. It wouldn't do him any good to spread this story around right now...even if he was on the chopping block with the young prince right now. "..the you know what?"

His superior shrugged, which didn't do Jean any favours. Erwin hadn't sounded so certain earlier when he said that Jean wouldn't get kicked out for his little mistake and Prince Marco calling them both to his room was certainly not good...but it wasn't like he could just blow off the future king of Trost! Whether he was getting kicked out of this place or not, he was a Military Police Officer and a guard to the royal family of Trost! It was his duty to take orders from them, no matter what they may be! Without another word Jean followed Erwin and Hange out of the room, leaving the others to their little squabbling over water.

It was funny how fast something could change from funny to childish in a matter of seconds, wasn't it?

* * *

 

The three walked along in utter silence, each not daring to say a word as they went about their business. No one knew what they could say so they just kept moving forward. Lucky for them there weren't many people out and about the palace this time of night. Most of the other servants had long since retired to their chambers, the king and queen should have been asleep at this very moment and the Military Police...well...they were still fighting about the hot water when they left, only this time a new match had been lit when one of the guards found his pillow sitting in one of the showers, soaking wet. Odds were by the time Jean and Erwin were able to return (if they were able to return) then they would still be right in the middle of this pointless arguement. 

Jean was able to recognize this part of the palace from his earlier wanderings, the very thing that had first gotten him into this huge mess. Not too surprisingly, Prince Marco's room was right beside the bathroom. 

Before entering the Prince's room, Hange knocked on the door to announce their presence. "My Prince," She called in to him. "Erwin Smith and Jean Kirstein are here to speak to you...Shall I take my leave?"

"Yes, you may." A familiar voice, the same voice that had screamed at him earlier that day and had been used to sing that beautiful song, the voice of Prince Marco, called back out to them. "Tell them they may enter. I'm decent."

He added that part for him. Jean would believe this until the day he died. Prince Marco added that stupid little line because he thought that the man who'd spied on him earlier was some kind of pervert. Not that he blamed the guy. If the tables were somwhow turned than Jean knew he would have been doing the exact same thing. 

"Well boys," Hange said with a yawn, stretching her arms out lazily as she spoke. "This is the end of my day. Good luck and good night to the both of you all."

"Good night Hange, thank you." Jean said softly, although his mind was more focused on how mad Marco was with him to bring him and Erwin to his room this late. "I'll speak with you tomorrow and we'll discuss what happened." That is, if he was still there tomorrow.

"Have a good sleep." Erwin said with a gentle nod, watching the girl leave before pushing open the door to the Prince's room and stepping inside. Jean paused for a minute, builidng up his courage before following after him. Tonight, he was really going to get the end of a stick. It was going to be a miracle if he got tossed out of the palace so earlier into his career, by the very person who inspired him to go down this route!

"Erwin, Jean," Prince Marco said to them, sitting perfectly upright in his bed as the two men enter his room. "I have called you here so we can have a proper discussion on what to do about..." He paused, trying to sum all that had happened in the best way possible. "...The unfortunate event that happened earlier today. As you know, we can't have this little story getting out. It's a piece of gossip that could get both me and Mr. Kirstein here in the doghouse."

Wow. Prince Marco knew his name. Jean hadn't known that before. He'd just assumed that The Prince refered to his servants and Military Police Officers by numbers or some kind of points system. He tried to think of how Marco would have even heard his name before...it was a possibilty that Hange could have told him but what were the odds of that. 

"Understood. What do you have in mind, my Prince?" Asked Erwin, standing loyaly and firmly at Jean's side, saying the question that Jean was too nervous to. This made Marco crack a smile, a small smile but a smile still.

"I have an idea..."

Jean gulped, beginning to question why he'd ever thought it would be a good idea to follow someone's voice threw a place he barely knew the ropes of. No matter how incredible the person's singing voice was. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Royal Family of Shiganshina
> 
> King: Nikolaus Hoover, A quiet and simple man, born into the royal family of Shiganshina and believed to hold records and books from the mysterious part of time. He has supposedly read through all the records and was so horrified by the tales within that he locked them up for the good of humanity. He refuses to say whether or not this is correct. He is incredibly devoted to his wife and his career but often leaves his children in the dark, not that he means too. 
> 
> Queen: Cassandra Hoover, A shy, timid and fragile lady. She had always kept to herself, despite her family's high status in the kingdom, but fell for the prince almost right away. After Bertolt was born, she fell into depression and stopped eating. Luckily, the servants and her husband were able to nurse her back to health. Although she was always wary of her son, she grew to take care of him like other mothers and had two daughters in the process.
> 
> Prince: Bertolt Hoover, The oldest child and only son of the king and queen. At sixteen years old, he's the youngest blue-blood with a guaranteed seat on the throne. For years, he thought himself to be in love with Princess Annie Leonhart of Dauper but realized this was in correct when their engagement was announced. He is incredibly shy and quiet with low self-esteem but is incredibly brave and had strong leadership skills. 
> 
> Princess: Monika Engel, the middle child and first born daughter of the king and queen. Married at 14 to a noble from the southern parts of her kingdom and currently carrying their first child. Monika is very bright and clever, often spends her time reading and dotting on her siblings and parents. She is madly in love with her husband and eagerly awaits their child's birth.
> 
> Lord: Sebastian Engel, a former noble from the southern parts of Shiganshina who was lucky enough to persuade the king and queen to let him marry their daughter. Like his wife, Sebastian is very clever and enjoys reading and writing. He is nervous about the birth of their first child but knows he'll pull through it. 
> 
> Princess: Tonya Hoover, The youngest Hoover child at 8 years old and the opposite of both her siblings. Tonya is an easily excited, adventurous, self-absorbed,eight year old girl. She loves sweets and exploring.


	8. gold teeth, grey goose, trippin' in the bathroom

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter! Enjoy and comment after you finish reading!

Although he hadn't gone over the rules for Military Police in awhile, Jean was pretty sure that there wasn't any rule allowing this. Military Police were supposed to protect royalty, fight off bad guys, defend the kingdoms and all the brave, heroic jazz! There had to be a rule against making someone who was supposed to worry about keeping the assasins down cater to your every need like some kind of sexy manservant! Knives and trained killers not bringing breakfast to a lazy prince who didn't want to crawl out of bed in the morning!

But...that was the only thing keeping him at the palace and from getting a reputation as a pervert...so Jean would do it with a fake smile on his face. 

He woke up early, ignoring the complaints from the others to stop making noise and that they were trying to sleep, got dressed and headed towards the kitchen to collect a meal suitable for his new master. Lucky for him the cooks in the palace were some of the best in the world and also woke up early to get a headstart on breakfast for the king and queen who both liked to eat right after awaking. Jean found them slaving away, setting completed dishes aside as they kept cooking and cooking and cooking. The man gritted his teeth angrily, looking at all the food that would go to waste. The king and queen would say what they wanted to eat and would get it without having to wait for it to finish cooking because it was already there. The rest of the food, food that was needed in cities and villages like his hometown, would be thrown out. Nothing but a waste. 

"Hey!" He called to the cooks, all of whom only spared a couple glances in his direction before getting back to what they were doing. "I'm taking breakfast to Prince Marco. What does he like to eat in the morning?"

"Take the plate over on the edge of the table there," One cook mumbled, hurrying to finish the dish he was working on. "It's nothing special but the prince is fond of the varity of flavours we incorperated into it. Get him some water too. He tends to get dehiderated easily while eating."

With a quick nod as thank you, Jean scooped up the plate and a nearby pitcher of water. Even royalty had to have the urge to drink without a cup sometimes right? It wasn't just lazy teenagers who didn't want to get a glass down from the cupboard? If Prince Marco wanted a damn cup to drink from than Jean would come back to the kitchen and get him a damn cup to drink from! Just because he had to do this sorry excuse for a job didn't mean he had to do it correctly! No! He could just do it really half-assed and get Marco to make him return to his previous post! Yes! That was his brilliant, shearfire plan! 

"Thank you." He said to the cooks before exiting the kitchen, heading towards the prince's room to wake him up and get him ready for whatever high-society crap he had to do today. Maybe, since he was technically the prince's butler-man, he'd be allowed to sit through the royal court today! Some of the other military police, as well as a couple suppliers from the city, gossiped about how the other kings and queens and princes and princesses were coming over to have a political discussion about something and it was no secret what that something was. There was a war brewing on the horizon. The Karanese Isles were only days away from launching an all-out attack on Stohess, everyone knew this, but they were waiting to see who they had as allies. It was more than possible that today they'd call their allies out and see who would be supporting them, who would be supporting their enemey and who would watch from the sidelines! 

...Everyone also knew that there was no way in the coldest pits of hell that Trost was going to get involved with the fighting. Both sides had brutal, warrior armies and close ties to the throne on this island.; If they sided with the Brauns and lost, one of the princesses of the isles would be put on the throne at once while the other inherited their family's original kingdom. If they sided with the royals of the isles and lost, they would face imprisonment for betraying their former allies and, from the stories he'd heard buzzing around both here and back home, the royal family of Stohess didn't look too kindly on backstabbers and showed little to no mercy when punishing them.

Needless to say, if something went down in court today, no matter what it was, it was going to be exciting!

...In order to get in the court though Jean was going to have to pretend to be a good little servant for a while. A thought that made him want to gag. Oh, the things he did when he had a lust for excitment. 

When he got to the prince's bedroom door Jean remembered his set of instructions, handed out especially to him by Prince Marco himself, and knocked loudly in order to wake the prince from his sleep. This was surprisingly difficult to do while trying to keep from spilling the food and water but some how Jean was able to manage. It not only surprised the soldier but gave him a little boost of confidence to help him get through his first offical day as Prince Marco's personal toy.

A couple minutes passed before Prince Marco opened the door, yawning and rubbing sleep out of his eyes with one hand while he blinked a couple of times and tried to adjust to this new morning light. He was dressed in silky pajama bottoms, the top lazilly buttoned in mis-matched holes so Jean could see a sneak a couple peaks at his chest and torso area. His PJ bottoms only stopped a couple centimeters from the prince's knees which were wobbly and shaking as the prince tried to keep balance while still half-asleep. In a way, he reminded Jean of the little baby deer he'd see running free in the woods near his house in the springtime as a child. The adorable baby deer that just learned how to walk and were still struggling. The little deer that made even a man as manly as him want to gush and squeel over due to their cuteness. He took a quick look over the prince, taking in his eyes and his freckles and his messy, tangly hair and his wobbly little knees and those very same urges and desires to gush and squeel over cuteness came rushing back. 

No one could ever know. You just didn't compare the prince, who thought you were a pervert because you walked in on him in the bath because you heard him singing and thought it was beautiful and wanted to see who it was singing and than realized that it was the very guy who had the power to fire you from the job you'd been preparing yourself for your entire life after seeing the prince who was a small child at the time and getting the sudden urge to protect him with your life, to a baby deer because that just seemed completely inappropriate. Princes weren't baby deer! They were brave men (Or in some cases women. It depended on what the person prefered you refered them as.) who protected their kingdoms and brought peace and were natural-born leaders!

"G'morning..." Prince Marco said in a soft, half-dazed voice, still too sleepy to remember how much the other man creeped him out. 

God damn it! Why did this prince have to be so darn cute?!

* * *

That night, Marco had a dream about fire. He couldn't remember anything other than flames and someone screaming out in pain as they were roasted alive, hundreds of thousands of similar screams in the background being drowned out by the cracking of the spreading fires as they burned and burned and turned everything around them to ash. He was lucky that his new little man-toy was so eager to get back in his good graces that he remembered to show up early to deliver breakfast, thus waking the prince up from his hellish nightmare. 

Groaning and sleep deprived, Marco slugged along towards the door and opened it up for the other man, lazily rubbing sleep out of his eyes as he tried to get his eyes to adjust to the fresh sunlight by blinking a couple times. 

"G'morning..." He said in a soft, half-dazed voice, thinking more and more about his dream and what it could have possibly meant. Marco had heard stories of people who were able to see the future through dreams and if so, he really hoped he was one of the people who couldn't. He made a mental note to go ask Hange about his possible vision later. 

"Good morning, my prince." Jean said, lowering his head in respect and slowly entering the room. He set Marco's breakfast and water down on a small bedside table and stiffened himself up, waiting for further instructions. He didn't say or ask anything, something Marco noticed was common amoungst new members to their Military Police Guard. No one wanted to engage in conversation in case the ones they guarded shot them all down. 

"..." Unfortantly, Marco wasn't much for keeping a conversation with someone he didn't know very well or wasn't entirely comfortable with either. He shut the door quietly and walked back over to his bed, sitting down on the soft, feathery mattress and patting a space across from him, gesturing for Jean to sit down as well. The Military Police Officer did but he still remained completely stiff and serious, eyeing Prince Marco with caution as if this was some kind of a trap.

"...Uh..." For god's sake, if Marco couldn't even start up a conversation with a man whose job was to agree with every single thing he said than how was he going to have debates about laws and wars and arranged marriages when he was a king?! "...Are you hungry?" He attempted weakly. "It looks like there's some extra food on the plate you brought me...you can have some..."

Jean raised an eyebrow but kept his mouth shut for once. Reaching back around, he grabbed the plate carefully and brought it back down onto the bed, setting it between himself and Marco who inhaled deeply, just to catch the wonderful scent of the food! He loved when the cooks made this for him...even if they always gave him too much. 

"There's water over there too." Jean informed him, although his eyes were kept on the plate, eyeing it hungrily. "Something to wash the food down."

"Thank you." Marco said softly, taking a piece of fruit of the plate and popping it into his mouth. "Please...help yourself..."

Unless his social skills improved dramatically very soon, young Prince Marco knew he was going to run into a LOT of trouble upon becoming king of Trost. If he couldn't have breakfast with a common man, than what could he do?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Royal Family of Ragako, and the last royal family to be introduced! After this is completed, you'll have gotten a brief summary of all the royals in the land!
> 
> King: Leigh Schneider, The picture of a perfect king. He is brave, loyal, protective of his son and just generally caring towards his people. After loosing his wife in childbirth, Leigh devoted his time to raising their son and showing how much he cared about him. He knows of his son's sexuality and it doesn't matter to him, in fact he was the one who proposed the idea of marrying him to his best-friend, knowing the large crush he had on him. 
> 
> Prince: Berwick Schneider, a mischievous but well-meaning young man who will someday take over Ragako(An island colonized by the city/state of Carthage who appointed the royal family) after his father's death. His mother died giving birth to him but he is supposed to have a similar appearance. Berwick is best-friends with Reiner and had a crush on his friend for a number of years before his father suggested a royal engagement. He gets on good terms with Annie and Bertolt as well. Not so much with Ymir.


	9. Blood stains, ball gowns, trashin' the hotel room

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter! Sorry for the late update, I had a really big science test that I ended up flunking so I had to take a re-do. Enjoy and comment after you finish reading!

"So..." Marco said, taking the last slice of fruit from his breakfast place and popping it into his mouth. He didn't mind speaking with his mouth full of food around Jean, commoners didn't mind whenever someone talked with a mouth full of food. Or...at least that's what he'd heard. He had never really gotten the chance to ask a commoner if they liked when someone used table manners or if they just ate food with their hands and spewed it everywhere like Annie had told him once when they were mere children. "...What do I have to do today?" There was always something on his to-do list, no matter what day it may be. The joys of being royal. 

Jean didn't seem to mind him talking with his mouthful, Marco noted, when the Military Officer didn't swallow what he had in his mouth to answer. "The royal families of Stohess and the Karanese Isles are arriving to have a word with your family about whose side you're going to be taking in the war." 

"Oh joy." Marco mumbled with an eyeroll. "Anything else? Anything fun?"

"...." The other male gave him one of the blankest looks Marco had ever seen before in his life. "What do you mean by fun?" He asked, "You're going to get to go to court! If the war between the Karanese Isles and Stohess does break out, history will be made! And you'll have been there to see it! How incredible is that!?"

Now it was Marco's turn to look lost. 

This other man confused him, almost as if he spoke entirely out of riddles and than gave the prince an odd look when he didn't get it. Jean was currently sitting across from him on his bed, the empty breakfast plate resting in between them on the light, silk sheets as light slowly spilled in from the windows. Most of the light reflected onto Jean, making his light colored hair shin a bit and his skin look paler. Marco hadn't really been able to get a good long look at him before now...he'd just seen the other's back as he fleed from the bathroom. Although he wasn't what one would call particularly good looking, he wasn't exactally ugly either. His face was a little on the long side but the arrangment of his eyes, mouth and nose seemed to balance everything out. His eyes were rather small and intense, as if he was expecting someone to burst into the room and try and kill the two of them right on the spot but there was also this gleem to them. A vicious, powerful gleem. It was strange but...whenever Marco saw the gleem in his eyes he felt something stir around inside his head, feeling so intense and powerful that it was absolutely frightening. Whenever he saw this gleem, Marco wanted to let out a loud scream and tell Jean that he was there with him...but that was stupid. Jean knew that Marco was right there so why would he have the urge to shout the obvious out loud?

"What?" Jean asked, "You don't like watching your own history be made?" he froze, realizing what he was saying and hurried to correct himself. The last thing he needed right now was to get in anymore deep with the prince. "I mean-"

"I get what you mean." Marco assured him, still wondering though why he had such strong urges to hug the other male and scream _"I'm here! I'm Okay!"_ whenever he looked at Jean's eyes. This was odd. Very odd. Mainly because it wasn't anything romantic or sexual, Marco knew those feelings and they were different from the ones he was feeling right now. The ones he felt now...they were the kind you got after living through a traumatic expirence with someone and confiding in each other how scared you were. But Marco's life was so sheltered! What could he have possibly gone through in his head that would make him so...so anxious. "But when you're going to these things for years they grow boring. Not too mention my parents are going to have to choose between our oldest friends and the family of the girl they want me to marry..."

"They could choose neutrality." Jean pointed out, inching forward a bit only to run into the sticky breakfast plate. He sighed and set it aside on Marco's bedside table, to be taken down to the kitchen for the servants to clean up later. Like hell he was going to do the dishes! Jean could be a manservant for the prince, he could walk around and fetch him breakfast and escourt him all over the kingdom but he was not going to clean! Make that little short dude with the beedy eyes do it! "Sit this one out on the sidelines and see if the other two kingdoms can settle their own battles by themselves." 

Was this guy completely innocent? He had to be if he thought that something as simple as that could solve all of their problems. The young prince sighed and climbed out of bed, heading over to his wardrobe to get fresh clothing for the long day. Something simple and comfortable while pleasing to the eye so his parents wouldn't have a fit. Off to the side, neatly folded together were a some of Marco's more beloved garments. A long, powder blue tunic, black slim-fitting trousers, a large belt and sandals. With his back turned to Jean, Marco undid the buttons of his pajama top and tossed the garment aside lazily, giving his new servant a good view of his back. 

Jean held his breath, marveling at the arangment of freckles that coated the other male. There were so many...some areas of the male's back were completely covered with little tanned spots. It was quite a sight to be seen, especially since in Jean's hometown, freckles were a rare thing. The only person with freckles he could ever remember seeing before he met the prince was a young girl, the butcher's daughter, who'd been struck and killed by a runaway cart one summer. He was so distracted by those cute little freckles that Jean almost forgotten what was happening at the moment. Prince Marco was undressing so he could change clothing! He let out a loud noise, something that sounded like a mix between a _yelp_ and the scream of a high-pitched eagel being murdered and spun around, forcing himself to stare directly at the wall and not look until he was told otherwise. Marco, who had now removed his bottoms and kicked them aside, pulling the trousers out from underneath the other clothing, heard this noise and looked back over his shoulder at the officer questioningly. 

"What are you doing?" He asked. "The reason I asked you to be my personal servant and escourt is because you've already seen me naked so I won't have to go through the trouble of having someone else see me like this." Of course, he wasn't going to order this man to turn around and watch him change clothing. Doing something like that would be considered 'teasing' as Erwin had told him once not too mention hypocritical. 

He continued changing, pulling on the trousers and tunic and tying the belt around his waist before slipping his feet into his sandals. A mirror hung on the inside of his wardrobe, place there when he was still only a child in an attempt to make him care more about his appearance. Naturally, it backfired. Almost immediately. Since he was still young, instead of cleaning up his hair and face to make himself look better, young prince Marco used to use the mirror to draw on his face and give himself some fake mustaches.  Of course, now a days he didn't really draw fake mustaches on his face anymore. Now he used the mirror to see if his hair was decent enough for him to step out in public. Not the most perfect hair in the world but groomed enough for people not to think he was some slob. Surprisingly, his hair looked fine for once without him having to try and brush it a bit. Marco spun around on his heel, offering Jean a thin smile, "How do I look?"

...

The Military Police Officer was still facing the wall, his back to his prince and not paying attention to a single word he'd been saying. 

Marco sighed. Maybe he should have reconsidered getting Erwin to be his own personal man-servant...this guy didn't seem to be all there...

"Jean Kirstein!" Marco snapped, making the other man yelp for the second time that day and bounce around to face his master. "Pay attention! That _IS_ an order! If you don't listen to me I won't let you come with me to the court today!"

"Huh?" Jean asked, blinking a couple times in confusion. Was Prince Marco serious? Was he really considering taking him with him to the court? He couldn't be!...Could he!? "Really? In that case, you look great prince! Blue is your color! Wear it more!" 

...

Prince Marco wondered how the others were dealing with their newest members to their Military Police Guards because they had to be getting a long a lot better than he was with this man. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun time! Who's going to get the next chapter? In the comments, say if you want the next chapter to peak into any of the following character's stories that are happening. 
> 
> The Choices are:  
> Reiner  
> Ymir  
> Levi  
> Mikasa  
> Sasha  
> Berwick  
> Luka  
> Krista
> 
> Each will eventually their chapters and they will all intertwine, then, after huge plot twists, we'll see what's been happening with Jean and Marco and how they deal with the upset!


	10. We Don't Care

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the delay for this chapter and how short it is but I promise the next one will be longer and all you Reibert and krista/Ymir fans out there be waiting. Good things are coming your way!

In the days leading up to the war the royal family of Stohess was growing restless. Their allies were beginning to fall out, fearing the power of the Karanese Isles and the ruthlessness of the future queen Ymir. Queen Reyna Braun was starting to get desperate...desperate enough to try and break up the engagement between Prince Marco of Trost and the fearless young ruler. A broken engagment would shame both families but at least then there would be one serious and strong alley at Stohess' side. 

Prince Reiner, Prince Luka and their mother made the journey to Trits by boat, accompanied by their young servant Krista and Prince Berwick of Ragako to Trost in the hope of convincing the King and Queen to side with them. It took several days, but when they finally reached the shores of Trost it was heavily raining and the skies were dark.

"I don't like this..." Krista mumbled and hurried to catch up with the others. The braun family and Berwick were tall, strong individuals who walked considerably faster than her. She blamed her tiny little legs...damn them! 

Prince Reiner stopped and allowed her to catch up to him. "What do you mean?"

"We should have brought the Military Pice or something!" She exclaimed, "It's dark and odds are The Karanese have already set up barracks here...something could easily go wrong and no one would ever know."

 The Prince's expression went grim and somber and his golden eyes flashed around wearily. His servant had a point...and it was quite a horrifying one at that.

"...No one knows that we're making this journey...except those involved....we should be fine."

But the way Prince Reiner said this was unsure. Krista could tell he was beginning to worry himself. She moved closer to him in fear. The Brauns were strong, all of them, and if something did happen to him this night then he would be able to keep Her safe better than the others. 

They came from countries on the verge of war...you couldn't blame her for being nervous. 

Krista could just tell that something bad was going to go wrong on this journey tonight...something really bad...


End file.
